Yesterday I wrote about my race planning for the swim portion of my upcoming race at Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga.  Tonight, I will cover the bike leg.

The photograph above is from 2018, and shows me leaving transition and heading out onto the Chattanooga bike course.  You will notice that I am not in aero position.  In fact I am very relaxed and not pushing hard at all.  That is the essence of my race plan for the bike.

For me, the bike leg is one big balancing act.  I need to push hard enough to achieve a good average speed and a fast time, but not so hard that I compromise the run leg of the race.  Races are made or broken on the run leg.  It is critical to conserve enough energy on the bike, to allow myself to run well.

My coach and I will agree a target power for me to ride at, during the race. This will be our best guess at the effort I need to maintain, in order to achieve the above mentioned balancing act.  This target however, is just a guide.  Based on how I am feeling on the day, I will adapt.

If on the day, I don’t feel strong, then I will be reducing that target number and going a little easier.  There is no point pushing to maintain the initial target power on the bike, only to have no energy left for the run.

If however, I am feeling particularly strong, then towards the end of bike leg, I will be OK going slightly over my target.  This will obviously be faster and if I have judged things correctly, I will still be able to have a good run.  I am thinking somewhere around 35-40 miles in, is where I will start to push harder, if I am feeling good.  The town of Chickamauga, is right around this point, so that might be the spot to decide whether I have enough to ‘go’.

So that is the plan for the bike.  I’ll finish this race planning series tomorrow, with my thoughts about the run leg.